Google took action in early 2007 to change the results page, when one of the first high profile Google bombs returned George Bush’s official Whitehouse page as the first result for searches for “miserable failure”.

A Google bomb is defined as  an attempt to raise the ranking of a given page in results from a Google search, “often with humorous or political intentions.”
Using Search engine optimisation techniques and a steely determination, the Google algorithm can be fooled temporarily into prominently ranking such high profile pages for terms that have nothing to do with them. Such pages will already have a very high pagerank based on their high profile content and are ranked quickly for unrelated terms by being associated with the Google bomber’s chosen search term in the anchor text of links to the site.

The image below shows Barack Obama’s official Whitehouse page ranking at #1 for “wh0 is failure”. While Google took steps to remove the Presidential page from “failure” searches, it appears that some variations of the search are still getting through the filter. In Obama’s  defence, it is possible that, as the incumbent, he has inherited the ranking from the previous Google bombing of George Bush depending on how it was targeted rather than being the target of a new campaign.

1. The West Cork Hotel’s new website is now live.

2. Industrial Infrared heater manufacturer, Ceramicx Ireland has unveiled a new logo to put the finishing touches to the design of their new website.

3. Cork Contract Cleaning Company, Xcell Cleaning, merged with Ben Price services

4. Cork Auctioneers, Denis A. Barrett, have moved offices to 81 South Mall.

5. Ireland Travel specialists, myguideIreland, have launched a new range of escorted coach tours

see you next week!

In the UK, Vodafone, the second largest operator, admits O2’s exclusive iPhone deal hurt its British business. It was the largest UK operator until 2006 and many analysts attribute O2’s gains to the iPhone deal.

Crucially, Vodafone will not have the iPhone available until early next year, missing an opportunity to capitalise on the lucrative Christmas market. In Northern Ireland, Orange customers will be able to get their hands on the iPhone in their Christmas stockings.

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Alf  is currently Chairman of Granite Consulting Limited and Eolas International while also sitting on the boards of the Cork Airport Authority, Kedco PLC, and the Cork Chamber.

The Chartered Accountant by profession has spent twenty years in senior management positions in the international drinks and hospitality industry, having joined Beamish and Crawford PLC as Financial Controller in 1988. He is currently at the final stages of completing a Masters in Executive Leadership (Msc) through Boston College and the University of Ulster.

On his new appointment, Mr Smiddy said these are challenging but exciting times for Ireland’s largest hotel group, who own the four Moran Hotels and six Bewleys Hotels in Dublin, Cork, London, Leeds and Manchester.

“I very much look forward to working with my board colleagues as we unlock the opportunities that lie ahead and deal with the challenges faced by the industry”, Mr Smiddy said.

The Web developers will be required to build, maintain and support websites and web applications.

You will be asked to liaise with clients, work out requirements, design, build, test and publish new websites, rebuild others and do it all with a smile. This is a role for someone that can manage a web project from an idea in a clients head to a beautiful, functional website.  more on the web developer positions

I hadn’t realised at the time just how emotive this issue is and would like to take this opportunity to urge as many as possible to sign the petition online at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/westcorktoday/

I was coming at this mainly from the point of view of a West Cork based enterprise and the economic value of having a dedicated local communications resource. Much of what has been achieved for the economic benefit of West Cork has been boosted by coverage on the West Cork Today show.

There is no better example than the recent creation of the West Cork Tourism Co-Operative Ltd to relaunch the Cork Swansea Ferry service. Several interviews on C103 with Conor Buckley, Chairman of West Cork Tourism, helped to get the message out and to mobilise the tourism community to get behind the initiative.

But this is bigger than just the business community in West Cork, the axing of the show affects non-business people greatly and especially the elderly.

To see the views of others (not as biased as mine perhaps?), check out the following:

Give West Cork its voice back……today!
West Cork Today (and Tomorrow?) – Sign Petition to Save Local Radio
C103 – not on our wavelength!
C103 loses the plot!
The service is a vital infrastructural asset in West Cork and I urge you all to support the petition.

I wonder what is the view of BCI who issued the license?

As Google continues to grow share of searches, it becomes more and more important for online businesses to focus on Google as a key source of traffic. While it is never wise to put all your eggs in one basket, if time and resources to invest in Search Engine Marketing are limted, then the case for concentrating just on Google through Pay-per-click and/or SEO in the initial phase gets stronger all the time.

There are also some very interesting stats in the same hitwise report about multi-word searches which I will study in more detail and write about in the coming days.

We are looking for a Web Developer and IT Engineer who are passionate about their profession and looking for an exciting new challenge in a rapidly growing company.

So if you want to join a growing and energetic company then find out more at careers at Granite Consulting .

This is a novel excercise in transparency and the public nature of the program is likely to go a long way to ruling out waste and inefficiency. In a video statement available to view on the site President obama states that “The important decisions about where taxpayer dollars will be invested will be yours to scrutinize.”

There is a full FAQ on the site: http://www.recovery.gov/?q=content/frequently-asked-questions

Vodafone and HTC are understood to be in discussions about the next generation of a device based on Google’s Android operating system – dubbed the G2.

Both Vodafone and HTC hope to have a deal signed in time for an announcement at Mobile World Congress, the mobile phone industry’s annual tradeshow in Barcelona which opened on today.

HTC also manufactured the first Gphone, the G1, which rival T-Mobile launched last autumn under an exclusive deal. While that device has done well in the US, recent numbers from T-Mobile in the UK suggest it has struggled to compete with Apple’s iPhone, available exclusively on O2. As T-Mobile don’t operate in Ireland, the original Gphone was not available here. A tie-up with Vodafone would most likely result in the phone becoming available on the Irish market also.

A Race for supremacy in mobile apps.

Google’s entry into the mobile cellular phone market follows the success of Apple’s iPhone. Google is hoping that its operating system will help persuade more mobile phone users to access the internet on their devices and become the platform of choice for developers of mobile phone applications.

While Apple’s iTunes currently dominates the so-called mobile “apps” space, Android already has about 800 applications available even though there is only one device in the market. It hopes that its share of the market will increase as more mobile device manufacturers release products.